Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication such as voice, data, and so on. These systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., bandwidth and transmit power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems. Typically, a wireless communication system comprises several base stations, wherein each base station communicates with the mobile station using a forward link and each mobile station (or access terminal) communicates with base station using a reverse link.
In order to make the communication between base stations and terminals more efficient, a concept of sticky assignments is used. Sticky assignments are useful in a scheduled data transmission system in cases where many users are competing for limited assignment message resources. A sticky assignment is when a resource (e.g. a channel) that is assigned to a particular user continues to be available to that user after the standard unit of transmission (say “packet”) is completed. Thus, a new assignment message is not necessary to enable the AT to continue transmission.
Generally, when a transmitter of an access point or an access terminal completes transmitting a set of actual data and before transmitting another set of actual data packet, a break (also referred to as “a gap”) in transmission occurs. The gap in data transmission refers to duration of time when no actual data is transmitted on the assigned resource (further discussed in FIG. 2). In a typical communication system, in the case of the access point transmitter, a possibility exists that the gap in transmission may be construed as, a loss of the assigned resource. In this case, the access terminal may request an assignment even though, the transmit resource is still allocated to the access terminal. In the case of the access point the gap may be interpreted as an indication that the access terminal no longer requires the assigned resource. In this case, the access point may assign the resource to another access terminal in the system. In both cases, it is inefficient and may lower the quality and reliability of the communication system.
Thus there is a need for a system and method to provide an indication of a gap in the transmission, so that the access point and access terminal do not interpret the gap in transmission as indication of not requiring the assigned resources or as an indication that the assigned resources were no longer available.